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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26689858">Of Serpents and Spirits</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/mildlynerdy/pseuds/mildlynerdy'>mildlynerdy</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003), Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood &amp; Manga, Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi | Spirited Away</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Fantasy, Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 04:16:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,982</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26689858</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/mildlynerdy/pseuds/mildlynerdy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When Edward was a child, he sacrificed his own freedom to save his little brother from eternal imprisonment in a spiritual bathhouse knowing that he would never see him again.</p><p>Alphonse reappearing at its doorstep is a surprise.</p><p>And when he shares what’s happening beyond the realm of spirits and demons, they wonder if perhaps the bathhouse is more than what it seems.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alphonse Elric &amp; Edward Elric, Alphonse Elric &amp; Riza Hawkeye, Alphonse Elric &amp; Roy Mustang, Alphonse Elric &amp; Team Mustang, Alphonse Elric &amp; Winry Rockbell, Edward Elric &amp; Riza Hawkeye, Edward Elric &amp; Roy Mustang, Edward Elric &amp; Team Mustang</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Of Serpents and Spirits</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Edward rapped his fingers on his knee in an attempt to quell the unease juggling his insides.</p><p>The cacophony within the bath house swelled, and his anxiety along with it. From the sounds of things, the place was in for a busy night. </p><p>That was good and bad. The risk of being seen was higher, but it also meant that the servants inside would be too busy to notice them. Fortunately the windows overlooking their half of the garden <em> just so happened </em> to be broken, so they couldn’t open at all. </p><p><em> Who said you can't make your own luck? </em>Ed thought with a smirk, one cheek pressed up against the damp wood to spy through the hole in the lattice.</p><p>Ed's patience was growing thin. He wanted to get away from this place sooner rather than later, but there was no way they would make it in the daylight. The streets were too empty and too quiet. It would be too easy for the toads to find them. If they use the commotion of the spirits’ festivities, they could disappear into the crowd and fade away into the veil of shadows like the other phantoms in the night.</p><p>So they waited.</p><p>Shrouded beneath the leaves and petals of the hydrangea bushes, they sat together in silence. The sky gradually dimmed, one half draped in shades of purple and blue, the other a blaze of fiery orange and yellow. A thunderhead loomed in the distance and Ed willed it to come closer. The noise and darkness would be a nice addition. Sad to say, but the skies overhead were clear and the wind wasn't strong enough to bring it closer. One by one, the stars peeked through the darkening blanket of the night sky, twinkling as merrily as ever. It was rude, to be quite honest.</p><p>“Brother,” Alphonse murmured, his wavering voice breaking the deafening silence. “Are you sure it'll work? They said no one's ever escaped before…" </p><p>Ed looked over at his baby brother. He was twisting the hem of a shirt too large for him, body shuddering in poorly suppressed fear and staring at the windows through the foliage. Every time someone approached, he tensed and held his breath until they continued on. </p><p>Ed reached over with a bandaged hand and stilled his brother's fidgeting. Al jumped and whipped his head around, worry and fear plain on his face. His eyes shone in the falling sunlight, shades of gilded amber intensified by the setting sun reflecting from the windows of the bathhouse windows. He was so close to crying that it hurt to look at him, but Ed held his gaze, gold matching gold.</p><p>“It will,” Ed replied with conviction. “I’m sure of it.” </p><p><em> It has to</em>, he added silently.</p><p>Ed rubbed his thumb lightly on the back of Al's hand, like Mom would, and bristled at the bandages wound around Al’s palms and fingers. Ed had put them there himself just that morning to protect the blisters, cracked knuckles, scrapes, and scratches earned from days of hard labor. The main objective was to prevent infection, but he hoped that they also lessened the pain.</p><p>He glared at them. The sight of those little white strips of cloth made Ed's blood boil. No one should be subjected to this level of abuse, much less<em> children.</em> Ed was older, he could handle it just fine, but Al... Al was only eight. What kind of monster would do that to a child as small and kind and gentle as Alphonse?</p><p>Taking a deep breath, Ed stomped down the white-hot rage bubbling in his chest. He had to focus. </p><p>Ed gave a small smile, hoping it looked reassuring, and gently squeezed Al’s hand. It was a small comfort at best, but he had to at least try. Al squeezed back, one corner of his mouth twitching upward.</p><p>Just as Ed returned to the peephole, he saw –</p><p>There! </p><p>Further down the pathway, a shimmer rippled through the air like heat above pavement, something shaking and shivering into their world from another. </p><p>The something shifted into a tall figure, featureless save for a pair of long, skinny arms and dull coins for eyes: flat and emotionless.</p><p>He pressed his cheek further against the fence for a better look, just to be sure. As he watched, more and more spirits appeared in the falling light; lanterns flared to life one by one. They had to go.</p><p>
  <em> Now.</em>
</p><p>“Come on, Al,” Ed beckoned urgently. "Time to go." Al nodded and crawled closer to Ed's side. They waited for the passageway above them to empty out, and when the last attendant carrying a basket of towels to disappeared around the corner, Ed opened the little door slowly and hoped that the grease he "borrowed" from the kitchens kept the rusty hinges from screeching. They hesitated briefly at the shadows passing behind the curtains in the arched entryway. </p><p>Quickly and quietly, they crawled through the door and crept along the garden fence. With one final glance back at the entryway, they stole across the bridge. </p><p>Someone shouted.</p><p>They ran. </p><p>Weaving through the streets lined with cafés and restaurants, they dodged between ghosts and apparitions along the way. Not one spared them a glance. These spirits couldn’t see them after all. Ed was thankful for that. </p><p>He managed to reach the main road, but they still had a long way to go, and now they were being chased. They <em>had</em> to hurry and get to that train station. It was the boundary to their supernatural realm. He overheard one of the toads say so a few days ago. If they could make it there, they'd be safe. </p><p>They'd be free. </p><p>More and more lanterns were lit, and Ed cursed. The street was getting too bright now. Maybe they waited too long. </p><p>The angry voices from the bath house rose from some distance behind them above the din of the fluted and drumming street music. A search party. </p><p>He chanced a glance over his shoulder. The Foreman and his goons rounded the corner at the top of the stairs just out of sight beyond the crowd, but hadn’t spotted them yet. Adrenaline surged through him. Before he could turn around, his toes snagging on a lifted stone and he tumbled. Al cried out beside him as they both crashed to the ground. They didn’t have time to recover. Ed forced himself to his feet, bloodied legs and forearm shaking in protest. </p><p>“Come on," he hissed, jerking Al up by the elbow and pulling him forward by his wrist. He'd feel bad about it later. Right now he needed to put as much space between them and that red monstrosity as possible.</p><p>They ran.</p><p>Ed could hear Al wheezing behind him. His lungs must be burning as badly as his, and his legs ached something fierce. They'd both sputter out like a bottle rocket if they kept this up and all this would've been for nothing. </p><p>They had to get off the road. His eyes darted frantically, looking for something – <em> anything </em> – large enough to hide behind.</p><p>A restaurant would have food crates around the back side, and there was one just up ahead on the corner of a side street. He twisted to the right and down the narrow passage, then again into the first alley behind the restaurant. It was barely wide enough for them to fit between the wall and a large crate of cabbages. Ed pushed Al ahead of him, and they scrambled through the gap and pressed themselves against the wall gasping for breath. </p><p>Seconds later, a pack of wet, slapping footsteps echoed off the walls. </p><p>Al squeaked and hugged his knees to his chest. Ed pulled him close, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and pressing his hand firmly over his brother’s mouth. He fixed Al with a look  and lifted his other hand to press a finger to his lips. Tears welled in the younger's eyes and they pinched shut as he clamped his own hands over Ed's. </p><p>The footsteps thundered past them.</p><p>They waited. </p><p>He couldn't tell how long they sat in the dark listening. However long it had been, the world beyond the lanterns illuminating main road was dark. The sun had set, and the crowds were growing in number. They needed to move, but they couldn’t chance taking the main street again. The spirits fortunately couldn't see them at all, but the toads could. Maybe if they kept the main road in sight, they could take the side streets without getting lost. Listening for toads would be easier with less noise and there was plenty of hiding spaces.</p><p>Decision made, he pushed himself upright, bloodied and bruised legs shaking from fatigue. “On your feet, Al,” he whispered as he extended his hand. Alphonse lifted his head, eyes and cheeks shining with tears. Ed’s face softened, and he smiled encouragingly. "Come on." Al reached up with a trembling hand, and Ed pulled him into a tight hug, making a silent promise. What he was promising he wasn’t sure, but he made it anyway, and he hoped Al heard it.</p><p>Swiftly and silently, they navigated the streets and alleys, occasionally darting behind crates and dumpsters or climb over stone walls to avoid searching eyes. The lights and sounds from the main street diminished as the distance between buildings stretched further and further apart. Reaching the last house on the street, they clambered down the steep hill and crept toward the pathway leading to the stairs. Thankfully the path was empty, the last of the spirits streaming up the hill and out of sight. They darted down the path.</p><p>Finally, they made it to the– </p><p>Ed skidded to a halt. Al crashed into him and fell backward with a squeal.</p><p>He blinked.</p><p>–river? </p><p>No...No no no, this wasn't right. There was a field here before, he was sure of it! Was he dreaming? Hallucinating? Where did all that water come from?! </p><p>His heart dropped into his gut. A ferry decorated with orange and yellow lanterns meandered across the water toward them, obnoxiously merry and bright. Beyond it, a blinding skyline of multicolored lights perched on enormous buildings illuminated the night and reflected on the water. The clocktower stuck out high above the adjacent rooftops like a beacon. It was nearly midnight. Under different circumstances, it might have been beautiful.</p><p>Those little lights mocked him. They were so close to freedom – to <em> home.</em></p><p>Yet so far away. </p><p>But this had been a field, he knew it had been a field! A green sea bespeckled with stones shaped like fat, ugly trolls.</p><p>Thinking back on it, he wondered if they were stone at all. They seemed almost sentient, beckoning smiles and waving hands carved into the surface. Even the wind had seemed to push them forward.</p><p>He shouldn’t have allowed the strange figures to lure them to this godforsaken place. They wouldn't be in this mess if it weren't for him. He should’ve listened to Al and turned around and left.</p><p>Gravel crunched beside him, and Al clutched onto Ed's arm. Ed looked down at him and saw eyes wide with shock, lip trembling at the shared realization: </p><p>They were trapped.</p><p>The plan failed. </p><p><em>Ed</em> failed.</p><p>Something rustled behind them. Ed's heart skipped a beat, and he yanked Alphonse close. Tucking Al's head under his chin, his arms encircling his little brother's trembling frame like a shield.</p><p>A dark shadow fell over them, tall and foreboding. Ed shuddered and pinched his eyes shut. He knew that shadow. He had been living under it for weeks. A familiar fear lodged itself in his throat the same moment that Al began to sob and bury his face further into Ed's chest. </p><p>Even self-made luck, it seemed, ran out eventually.</p><p>Slowly, Ed opened his eyes and looked over his shoulder.</p><p>
  <em> Father. </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it :)</p><p>I couldn't have done it without the help and support of my editor and dear friend RainFlame. Thank you <i>so much!!!</i> If you haven't read any of her works, please take time to visit her library. She has some really amazing fics! </p><p>Shout-out to my friends in the discord server. You know who you are.</p><p>Update: Rest assured that I won't abandoned this one. It's just taking me longer to outline and write than I thought!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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